Anthony Nsofor

Their Coming Stole Color Away, 2015, Acrylic and cloth on canvas. 60 X 48 cm

Myriad Converge, 2015 , acrylic on canvas, 48X 52 cm

Training

• 1990-96 Bachelor of Arts (2nd Class Upper Div.) Fine and Applied Arts, University of Nigeria, Nsukka

• 1980-85 W.A.S.C- Federal Govt. College, Okigwe, Imo

• 1980-85 F.S.L.C- Federal University of Technology, Staff Sch., Owerri, Imo

Exhibitions

Group exhibitions

• 2015 Anya fulu Ugo, University of Nigeria, Nsukka

• 2009 Beyond Figuration, Omenka Gallery, Ben Enwonwu Foundation

• 2006 With a Human Face, Pan African University, Lagos

• 2006 A Glimpse into Nigerian Art, Cheikh Anta Diop Univ., Senegal • 2005 The Rediscovery of Tradition: Uli and the Politics of Culture, Pendulum Gallery, Lagos, Enugu, Nigeria; Worcester, South Africa

• 2005 Morning Yet on Creation Day, National Museum, Onikan, Lagos

• 2003 Homage to Asele, National Museum, Onikan, Lagos

• 1997 6 New Painters from Nsukka, British Council, Enugu

• 1996 A Strangled Song, Margaret Ekpo Ref, Univ. Of Nigeria, Nsukka

Personal exhibitions

• 2012 Autobiography and Beatitudes, Pan African University, Ajah, Lagos

• 2004 The Orthopaedic Series, National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos

Presentation

Bibliography

• Anya fulu Ugo, exhibition in honour of El Anatsui and Obiora Udechukwu / edited by University of Nigeria, Nsukka, 2015, 60p.

• Nigeria / Roots: Contemporary Artists from Nigeria ed. Benetton, Luciano (et

al), Crocetta del Montello: Fabrica, 2015

• Contemporary Nigerian Art in Lagos Private Collections : New Trees in an Old Forest / edited by Jess Castellote, 2012.

• https://jesscastellote.wordpress.com/2008/07/08/tony-nsofor/

• http://chikaokeke-agulu.blogspot.fr/2012/11/anthony-nsoforsexhibition-

in-lagos.html

• The rediscovery of tradition : uli and the politics of culture / edited by C. Krydz Ikwuemesi and Emeka Agbayi, 2005, 216p.

• 6 new painters from Nsukka / edited by Art and Artists Conference Forum,

1997, 24p.

Publications

• Telling Lines, THISDAY Newspapers, November 09, 2014

• “A web of Deception”, Thisday newspaper, 8 septembre 2013.

• Beyond the Familiar, THISDAY Newspapers, July 25, 2009

• The Name of the Game, The Comet Newspapers, Aug.10, 2002

• Images that Tickle the Imagination, The Comet Newspapers, July16, 2002

Professional experience

• 2002-2015 Studio master, The Claywall Ltd, Suite C228, Ikota

Shopping Complex, V.G.C. Lagos, and, 81 Ohaozara Street, Aladinma,

Owerri

• 2008-2009 Art Educator, Whitesands School, Lekki, Lagos

• 2002 Gallery assistant at African Foundation for the Arts, Balarabe Musa

Crescent, Victoria Island, Lagos

• 2002 Reporter, Art Editorial Desk, The Comet Newspaper, 24-25 Ijora

Causeway, Lagos

• 1998 Teacher, Tafawa Balewa Sec. School, Tafawa Balewa, Bauchi

• 1998 N.Y.S.C.Assistant Protocol Officer, Tafawa Balewa L.G.A, Bauchi

The creative process changes with my mood. There is no direct process. On

one canvas, I can start a painting by first making a sketch. Then on other

times, I play with colors, step back, and ‘read’ the unconsciously laid

patterns. I retranslate these patterns into identifiable forms.

Beauty, and aesthetics becomes a presentation that relays a story. The

object or subject is not beautiful on its own based on proportions. It

‘becomes’ beautiful (or not) based on its interactions and very existence.

Painting and photography as media for expression to me are like the yin-

yang effect. They are complimentary tools that help me communicate in

totally different ways, to express myself fully. I draw relatively well,

transcribing the reality of objects as they appear. But I let go of this ability

Way of working

when I usually paint these stylized, or pure abstract works. I would rather

paint with feeling like an African. I want to interpret form for its importance

to the overall message. I want to paint the nose for its functionality-because

you use it to breathe, not just as a well-formed cone on a cylinder. In

breathing, the nose rises and falls. I want to ‘think’ like it happens in real life,

not just record physical appearances. I want to get at the substance of

things-the meaning and use for the eyes. Every part of the human body has

a function that I would like to suggest in my drawing.

Realism doesn’t allow me to achieve that. I accept though, that there is a

place for realism even in painting-in recording history, social documentary

etc. In my paintings generally, I am doing proverbs (poetry). In my

photography, it is prose.

Since writing my undergraduate thesis (Colonial Influences on the Arts of

My people) at Nsukka, I have remained intrigued by the culture of people-

language, dress, customs, local histories etc. My work investigates the

immediate environment, becoming a response to the stimuli of living, an

autobiographical essay that stretches with each new experience. I explore

the rereading on traditional structures, and sometimes, jettisoning of age-

old traditions for ‘modern’ mindsets (in my case, the importance of human

relationships, sex, love, marriage, new life, divorce, and death).

Coming from the Nsukka School, known for investigating the uli, nsibidi and

adinkra traditions, among other native art traditions, I have grown the

discourse by choosing to investigate the transience of contemporary

experience. I am interested in the relationship (or not) drawn up in the study

of languages, between the sign, the symbol and the signified; the object and

its signifier. Recognizing new realities and our jet-speed age of information

overdose, I am fascinated by the new meanings and associations of

experience. I ‘read’ text as having both formal and ideological significances.

Text becomes important in my visual narrative. Sometimes I use unrelated,

disassociated words with the intention to stir the mind into forming new

‘pictures’ based on the viewer’s experience of words. I am interested in

fusing sound, color and patterns are of utmost importance, working

coherently to relocate meanings.

Art is a strong catalyst for progressive change and connection among

peoples. It delineates cultural patterns and highlights societal trends in an

exaggerated manner. The African human condition suddenly appears,

existence becomes subservient to powerful forces in the environment and

the pressures of the West that suggest a neocolonialist intent in the

commonwealth of nations. Through my story, I (re)write that of Africa.

The Mourners (From the blessed series), 2012 mixed media, 48 X 48 cm

LWKMD. The Dying of Languages, 2015, mixed media, 48 X 48 cm

Rider (Adventure Love Stories), 2015, acrylic and paper on canvas, 52 X 48 cm

Flight to Egypt (Holy Family), 2015, mixed media, 48 X 48 cm

Couple (In the beginning) , 2014, mixed media painting, 60X48 cm

Couple 1 , 2015, mixed media painting, 60X48 cm

Ride, 2014 , Oil and enamel paint on canvas, 48X48 cm

Michael and Lucifer, Acrylic and painting ink on canvas, 2015, 48 X 48 cm

It’s a love/hate relationship-the

recollecting of the heady loves gone sour.

We keep them in a space in our hearts,

close to our most joyful moments, where

tears mingle with smiles.

Couple (sunny day), acrylic on canvas, 52X48 cm

It’s not a thin line between love and hate,

its only time.

My idea of Beauty, feminine beauty revolves around the full-bodied female types whose bodies tell stories of where they have been,

where they are heading, who they are, in underlined headlines.

Couple (or divorce), 2015 , acrylic on canvas, 48X52 cm

Desire as a woman, 2012, mixed media painting, 29X29 cm

Womb-man , 2015, mixed media painting, 60X48 cm

African Lady, 2014, acrylic and paper on canvas, 60X48 cm

Those Who Mourn, 2012, acrylic on canvas, 60X48 cm

Mma nwanyi bu Agwa ya

A woman’s beauty is in her character.

Ebi, 2012 , Acrylic on canvas, 57 X 82 cm

Portrait of Chidinma, 2012, Acrylic an canvas, 57 X 69 cm

Dreaming of love, 2015 , mixes media, painting, 48 X 48 cm

What I became, After you made art, 2009 , mixed media painting, 70 X 57 cm

Face Facts, oil on canvas, Acrylic on canvas , 97 X 97 cm

Autoportrait, 2012 , Acrylic on canvas, 48 X 48 cm

Landscape (2), 2011, Oil and acrylics on canvas, 56 X 56 cm

Shadows on Broadstreet, 2006, Acrylic on canvas, 84 X 161 cm

A fragmented Existence, 2013, Acrylic and photography on canvas, 122 X 122 cm

The Deluge Swept the Windows Away. 2014, Acrylic and photography on canvas,

122 X 122 cm

The Rise of Art , 2011, Soft charcoal drawing

The Funeral for art , 2011, Soft charcoal drawing

Particulars. drawing

Seated girl, drawing

Portrait, drawing

Easter Vigil (1), photography

Easter Vigil (2), photography

Sunset on Makoko, photography

Filter path, photography

Makoko, photography

Girl, somewhere in Makoko, Photography

Duo, photography

Street, photography

Arise Fashion Show (1), 2013, photography

Mister Burns chilling in my studio, 2014, photography

I look at the scene before me and take the photograph. This is enough realism. Then I go

away and fantasize. I tell stories that are sometimes hyperboles, deeper than surface

meanings. So, through painting and photography, I achieve a balance in my work. I can’t just

continue taking photographs and using them as references for paintings. I take a lot of

photography portraits. This allows me the liberty, when I paint, to close my eyes to

immediate appearances, to unveil emotions. The photographs I take are social documents

with a double meaning. It’s a retelling of a story, and also it is archival, storing up memories.

It’s exciting for me to find ways of retelling the story (when I tear them up and use them as

‘colour’ in my paintings). Every time I have this opportunity to eat into a story, I enjoy the

new interpretation that emerges. After amassing and printing so many photographs, it

became necessary for me to find ways of recycling them, to find new use for them by giving

them new life. I sometimes don’t give the printed photographs to the owner-maybe they

don’t come back for it, or I don’t have the time to start looking for them to give the pictures,

or I think the colour synchrony of the print does not match what I had in mind when I took

the shot. The joy is not immediately commercial- to print and sell the picture. The joy is to

take the photograph. The photographs started speaking back at me. I began to study them

for their colour as a common element I could inculcate in my painting. I found that certain

colours appear more often in my society. So I would cut up the pictures for the colours. This

discovery affected my vision in photography. Colour gained importance for me while taking

the shot. I looked for ways to highlight hitherto subdued colours, to create contrasts. I would

emphasize certain colours by framing my shot. Sometimes I emphasize the colour in post-

editing, since I usually shoot in RAW image format. Every time I look at a scene, I think of

squeezing out colour. This is particularly interesting in night photography when colours are

not bleached by the sun. At this time, colours are most intense. These small bursts of colour

contrast very well with the black of night.

From AMFW, the Last Don, 2012, photography

From AMFW, the Last Don, 2012, photography

I will walk with you in day Before night

I will talk with you today

About the light in your eyes Before the night

Barks, moon, celestial lights No more nights

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